BROSELEY, a small town, a parish, and a subdistrict in Madeley district, Salop. The town stands on the river Severn, and on the Severn Valley railway, adjacent to Coalport station, 7½ miles SSE of Wellington. It extends away from the river a distance of 2 miles, in an irregularly built street, crossed at intervals by small lanes. It is surrounded by a mining district, in which coal and iron-stone are worked; it carries on manufactures of fire-bricks, tiles, and tobacco pipes; and it has a post office‡ under Wellington, Salop, a banking office, two chief inns, a town hall, a parish church, four dissenting chapels, and endowed charities £20. The church is in the later English style; and was built in 1845, at a cost of £9,000; but has a fine square tower of a previous church. A weekly market is held on Wednesday; and fairs on 26 Jan., 29 May, and 28 Oct. A petroleum spring is in the neighbourhood; and an iron bridge, with one arch of 100½ feet in span, over the Severn, is 2¾ miles to the NNW.—The parish comprises 1,912 acres. Real property, £8,791; of which £697 are in mines. Pop., 4,724. Houses, 983. The property is not much divided. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Linley, in the diocese of Hereford. Value, £432.* Patron, Lord Forester. The rectory of Jackfield is a separate charge.-The subdistrict contains five parishes and an extra-parochial tract. Acres, 7,847. Pop., 5,853. Houses, 1,208.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))